Retcon
by Lizard Pie
Summary: With everything in tatters, Archie and Maxie could only wonder what might have been. Set after the events of Omega Ruby.


AN: Sort-of sequel to Slow Start

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><p>"I could have been a cashier, you know."<p>

As two of the most wanted men in Hoenn's history, they should have immediately split up and disappeared. If nothing else, there was an endless amount of work to do to at least try and clear up the damage they'd caused. The last place they should have been was on the cliff face of Sootopolis watching the waves crash against the protective shell, and yet they'd been there for hours. Silent, up until that point.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Back when I was in college, when I was first recruited. Earlier that week I'd put in an application to be a cashier at the bookstore." He shrugged, hollowly. "It didn't pay much, but it would have been enough to keep me fed and all. But the research job had paid a little better, at least on paper. Probably a lot less once all the expenses were taken out, but it'd kinda seemed obvious at time.

"I've asked myself a million times -over the years and definitely today- what started the avalanche. And I think that was it."

Archie scratched his chin and leaned back against the rock face. "Yeah, well I could have just gotten on that ship rather than taking that guard job."

"And then we never would have met, and today would have been like any other day." He took a deep breath. The air was still sticky and far too warm, even though the fire was long gone.

"Yup." A few more waves hit the rocks below before he added, "But we also coulda stopped a bunch of times. Like when we were digging up all those books."

"That trip to Granite Cave we almost didn't go on."

"Took a lotta time and energy to carve out a base and stuff it fulla people in uniform. We coulda decided we were too old for that before we actually were."

"Which would have still left us unemployed fugitives without much to look forward to."

"Rather that than some deckhand who never had anything but shore leave to look forward to. Though I guess you would have been some big shot at Devon or something if we hadn't..."

"If _I _hadn't."

"So how far back would you go?"

"Does it really matter at this point?"

"Oh, come on. If you had a time machine right now."

He chewed it over a long while before he finally said, "I would have slapped those books I'd found in the lab out of my hands. Then we would have been aimless unemployed fugitives, and maybe have fixed the 'unemployed' part by now."

"Doubtful."

"Hm. Well, it's neither here nor there. It's time to focus on cleaning up this mess."

"Well, you know, you have us if you need it." He scowled when Maxie opened his mouth to protest. "And if you ask me why, when I know you'd have been the first one out there with a mop bucket calling me an idiot if things had turned out different, I'm going to shove you down the hill."

His mouth shut and finally twisted upwards. "I would have, too."

Archie smirked and elbowed him. "I know."

"If we combine resources, we're able to do more now than we ever have."

"Yeah, we are."

That they were well-stocked didn't mean they were capable, though neither one wanted to say it. The ideological differences they wore on their sleeves, quite literally, hadn't been the start, latest, or even largest of their problems. They were simply the easiest to put a finger on and the easiest to fix without making any real progress. That they were no longer trying to re-sculpt the planet did nothing as long as Maxie continued to be distant, Archie continued to womanize, and neither one knew how to bring much of anything up without it devolving into a screaming match.

"We could always just communicate through the administrators, if we needed to," Maxie finally offered.

"They get along."

"They seem to, yes." He stared, firmly, at the water. "It'll work this time."

"Definitely."

Their heads moved, slightly, towards one another. They froze and waited, each hoping the other would take the initiative. They'd broken up for valid reasons, but they'd also been young and impulsive at the time. The other had to see that.

As the waves crashed below, and it became painfully obvious neither had the nerve just yet, Maxie reached for a PokeBall.

"I'll need about a week," he said he released his Crobat. "Then I'll send for you and we can get started. Where do you think you'll be?"

"Same old place."

Maxie nodded as he stood and grabbed onto the Pokemon's foot. "Until then."

Once he was out of site, Archie leaned his head back against the rock. After a sigh, and a long pause to collect himself, he settled that the first step was easy and completely manageable. He summoned his Crobat and left Sootopolis behind him.


End file.
